Page 10 - Insurance Times September 2019

LIC posts higher-than-in- LIC Housing Finance records 7% growth in net profit

dustry growth of 51.86% LIC Housing Finance registered an increase of 7.39% in its consolidated net
profit at Rs 609.13 crore for the first quarter ended
YoY for APR-JUL on June 30, 2019. During the same period in the pre-
Life Insurance Corporation of India vious fiscal, LIC Housing Faineance had reported a net
(LIC) has reg- profit of Rs 567.18 crore.
istered a In a regulatory filing, LIC Housing Finance said that
higher-than- Total Revenue from operations rose to Rs 4,815.57
indus t r y crore for the first quarter as against Rs 4,068.93 crore in the year-ago period.
growth of
51.86% year- "The business environment continued to be quite challenging. However, despite
on-year (YoY) in new business collec- that, the company's outstanding loan book grew consistently, especially on the
tion for the April to July 2019 pe- home loan segment," LIC Housing Finance MD & CEO Siddhartha Mohanty said.
riod. LIC collected new premiums of
Rs 60,106.66 crore for the period LIC to fill two MD posts soon
compared to Rs 22,039.81 crore col- The Banks Board Bureau has planned to hold interviews for two top posts at
lected by the private companies. the Life Insurance Corporation of India soon. The bu-
reau has called eight candidates for interview to fill
The life insurance industry collected
Rs 82,146.47 crore in the April-July two vacancies for the posts of Managing Director at
2019 period, showing a 44.25 per- the country’s largest life insurance company.
cent YoY growth. Among private sec- These officials include Mukesh Kumar Gupta, HS Shashi Kumar, Raj Kumar,
tor players, Tata AIA Life had the Rakesh Kumar, KS Nagnyal, S Nallakuttalam, Dinesh K Pangtey, and C Vikas Rao.
highest growth rate at 91.79% YoY The Bank Board Bureau, which recommends candidates for top jobs at banks,
growth to collect new premiums of will then finalise its recommendations, and a final decision will be taken by
Rs 818.76 crore. the government.
LIC's market share stood at 73.17% Sources said the process is likely to be completed in the next three-four months.
in terms of premium collection. The Traditionally, LIC has one Chairman and four Managing Directors. At present,
life insurer saw a premium growth two posts of Managing Directors are vacant after the recent retirement of B
across its business segments includ- Venugopal and Hemant Bhargava in quick succession in the last few months.
ing individual and group business. In fact, since the start of this year, the entire top management of LIC has seen
a revamp due to a spate of retirements. MR Kumar, the current Chairman of
LIC sells stake in MTNL LIC, was appointed in January this year, while the two serving MDs, Vipin Anand
Mahanagar Telecom Nigam in- and TC Suseel Kumar, were appointed earlier this year.
f orme d
the ex- Public listing of LIC likely
chang e s The central government is mulling over the public listing of Life Insurance Cor-
that LIC poration of India. LIC holds 2/3 share of India's life in-
had sold surance market. According to the information received
stake in from the sources, the process is in the early stage and
the company during the last two has been discussed within the government.
months. In a disclosure to the
bourses, it said, LIC had sold 1.27 The Department of Investment and Public Asset Man-
crore shares of MTNL in the open agement (DIPAM) and DFS are exploring the pros and cons of listing the insur-
market between June 4 and July 22. ance company. The dilution is likely to happen with the sale of a small tranche
Following the selling, LIC's holding in through an IPO, followed by a further reduction in the government’s holdings,
the company got reduced to the sources informed.
13.607% from 15.629%. Sharehold- If the LIC shares are listed on stock exchanges, it can easily emerge as the top listed
ers will closely monitor further ac- company in the country in terms of market valuation. It is likely that LIC can over-
tion from LIC. take current leaders Reliance Industries Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services.

10 The Insurance Times, September 2019